Genuine or NOT? Can you spot the FAKE PEOPLE?

I have an unfortunate skill, and I call it unfortunate because insofar it has only served to cause me to not like people.  <fake smile>  So sorry! <inflection of voice> 

I would never claim to have the knowledge or skill sets that others have (Hi, I am still an at-home mom of four!) but, this, this I can do.  (Along with the crazy close estimation of grocery prices. PRICE! IS! RIGHT!) 

I can tell when you are full of shit.  Something so simple as a smile can give it away.

Genuine.

I'm geniune when I'm squinty, toothy and especially if that vein pops in my forehead.

This is me, FULL OF SHIT, fake. But, I am not good at fake, so that's as far as it gets, before it turns into...the grin.

This is not the same as the "grin," which involves a lot more dimple and happy.  The shit eating grin is my current Facebook Avatar.  That's not fake.  This, is fake.

A test -

• You got 18 out of 20 correct

• Look at the labels below each image to see which smiles are genuine and which are fake.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles

Most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. One possible explanation for this is that it may be easier for people to get along if they don't always know what others are really feeling.

Although fake smiles often look very similar to genuine smiles, they are actually slightly different, because they are brought about by different muscles, which are controlled by different parts of the brain.

Fake smiles can be performed at will, because the brain signals that create them come from the conscious part of the brain and prompt the zygomaticus major muscles in the cheeks to contract. These are the muscles that pull the corners of the mouth outwards.

Genuine smiles, on the other hand, are generated by the unconscious brain, so are automatic. When people feel pleasure, signals pass through the part of the brain that processes emotion. As well as making the mouth muscles move, the muscles that raise the cheeks – the orbicularis oculi and the pars orbitalis – also contract, making the eyes crease up, and the eyebrows dip slightly.

Lines around the eyes do sometimes appear in intense fake smiles, and the cheeks may bunch up, making it look as if the eyes are contracting and the smile is genuine. But there are a few key signs that distinguish these smiles from real ones. For example, when a smile is genuine, the eye cover fold - the fleshy part of the eye between the eyebrow and the eyelid - moves downwards and the end of the eyebrows dip slightly.

Scientists distinguish between genuine and fake smiles by using a coding system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which was devised by Professor Paul Ekman of the University of California and Dr Wallace V. Friesen of the University of Kentucky."

I see a couple of you back there in the anti-social club nodding your heads.  I have an inkling that I have a few friends who are plagued with the natural anti-bullshit meter installed in their heads.  Interestingly, the ones I got wrong, were the middle aged white men who most resembled my spouse.  (I know his fake face, as his genuine smile is one thousand times larger, brighter and less-likely to appear.)

This, will make you feel, better?  I suppose it's why some of us weren't popular in high school or simply couldn't be bothered.  :x

Scientific American Mind -

Spotting a Fake Smile
"Social psychologist Michael Bernstein and his colleagues at Miami University found that people who felt rejected were better at discriminating between fake and real smiles. Researchers believe that a true grin indicates real emotions, such as cooperation, because some of the muscles we use—the ones around the eyes—are not under our conscious control.

Our ancestors needed to be accepted in a group to survive, Bernstein says, so an outsider would not want to waste energy by acting on a fake reaction—or to miss a real opportunity to be included."

That's okay with me.  I'll miss out on opportunities if they aren't genuine, which means, I MISS OUT ON A LOT OF OPPORTUNITIES.  I am not looking for popularity. 

You know, what I can't tell? 

I can't tell if these websites are for REAL.  A website that boasts a plan that will TEACH YOU HOW TO BE FAKE!?  For real?  Or, not?  (It's real, the shopping cart works. O-O)

• how to alter the backbone of your personality, which governs how you think and behave, to automatically act in a socially superior manner
• how to use manipulative psychology to alter the thinking of other people and make them like, respect and admire you
• how to use simple behavioral alterations that will automatically make people interested in you
• how to prevent damaging behavior like “self talk” which inhibits socially productive responses leaving you behind
• how to psychologically train your mind so you naturally become an extrovert
• how to evoke positive responses from people, no matter what you’re saying to them
• how to remove feelings of doubt, fear and uncertainty in social situations
• how to find and forge friendships with the most important, relevant people in society
• how to detach yourself from caring about the opinions of specific individual people and focus on gaining the admiration of the greater majority
• how to use people to your advantage, as opposed to having them use you
• how to get inside people’s heads and make them think you’re being honest with them, whether you are or not
• how to become popular and successful just like me and reap all that society and life has to offer

Want a copy?